Keeping the Beasts at Bay
by Phx
Summary: Another 'Born under a bad sign' tag. After the Winchesters' left, Bobby made a phone call. This story goes out to my wonderful beta, Red Hardy, who encouraged me to write although I had already done another tag!


**'Born Under a Bad Sign' will just not leave me alone. It demanded another tag from a different perspective. And is anyone else jealous of Meg?? She got to give that wonderful body a shower... and in appreciation of that thought.. oh just read, lol, you'll see!! I hope you enjoy. Phoenix**

**Keeping the Beasts at Bay**

Bobby Singer stood in the doorway of his house and watched the Impala pull away until it was nothing more than red taillights in the faraway distance. He sighed heavily as he rubbed absently at his chest willing away the surge of heartburn that threatened to take up residence. This was so not good – and he wasn't meaning the heartburn.

Once he was certain Dean and Sam Winchester were finally gone, he closed the door, checked the protective wards around the windows and doors and then picked up the phone. He dialed a number and then exhaled loudly as he looked up at the ceiling and bemoaned the damaged Devil's Trap. How dare that little bitch break his cage!

After three rings, a deep voice answered but Bobby never gave the man a chance to say more than hi. He barked out, "We have a problem." He paused and then asked, "Where are you?"

…

It was almost morning before a dark colored SUV pulled up outside Bobby's house and was shut off. The driver's side door opened and a giant of a man pulled himself out of the vehicle and then stretched out his large frame and looked around.

"Joshua White," Bobby greeted from the doorway. "What'd you do? Stop in every whorehouse between here and the mountains? I was expecting you two hours ago!"

"Nope," the big black man flashed a bright smile, his gold tooth a quick tease. "Only the one your Momma works at."

The smaller man scowled and went back in the house.

"We got a problem," Bobby said as he poured two cups of black coffee and offered one to the other hunter. Joshua accepted his and then sat down at the table.

"So you said," Joshua admitted, taking a large sip of the hot brew, "Care to elaborate?"

"You ever hear of a Steve Wandell?" He already knew the answer but figured it was the best place to start.

The muscles in the big man's jaw tightened as a flicker of pain dulled the dark brown eyes for one brief moment. He nodded slightly, putting his cup down on the table. "You know I do. He was a friend."

Bobby caught on to the other man's use of past tense. "So you heard, huh?"

"Damn straight I did," anger seethed through the admission. "Some soon to be dead bastard busted into the house and slit his throat… There ain't much more to hear about than that."

"Oooh, I wouldn't be so sure," Bobby drawled out, his gaze flickering to his untouched coffee. He chewed his lip thoughtfully and hated the position he was about to put the other hunter in. But with John Winchester, Jim Murphy, Caleb Black and Daniel Elkins gone, there just weren't as many choices as before. And besides which, Joshua owed John at least this. He looked up at Joshua. "Sam Winchester killed him."

For one stunned moment the big man just looked at him and then he burst out laughing and slammed a ham sized fist down on the table. "Little Sammy killed Steve? Good one, Bobby – geez, next thing you'll be telling me was that he was possessed or something at the time!" The silence that greeted him was as morbid as the look on Bobby's face. Joshua sat back, all humor gone. "No…" he shook his head.

Bobby nodded.

Joshua shook his head again. "No way, man."

Bobby nodded, again.

Suddenly Joshua was on his feet. "Sonnavabitch!" He stormed out of the house, kicking the door open with his foot.

The other hunter didn't follow. He just took a long drink of his coffee, grimaced and stood. Listening to the angry tirade of the other hunter as he stalked around angrily outside, Bobby decided the coffee needed something.

Whiskey.

Once he had poured a generous amount in both cups, he sat back down and waited. His patience paid off. Eventually, Joshua came back inside and sat down.

"Sonnovabitch," the black man repeated.

"Yup," Bobby agreed, finishing off his coffee.

"Sammy killed Steven?" Joshua exhaled loudly. "Fuck."

"Well if it makes you feel any better," the older man offered. "He was possessed at the time."

"Possessed?" the other hunter parroted. "Oh this just keeps getting better." He turned a dark glare on his friend. "You do realize Steve's friends are out for blood. They aren't going to care that the kid wasn't in control at the time." He slammed his hand on the table again. "Fuck!" He repeated.

"Yeah," Bobby shrugged, "Pretty much so."

"Okay, okay, let me think about this for a minute," Joshua scrubbed at his face and then looked at his friend. "Does Dean know?" Bobby gave him an incredulous look. "Yeah stupid question… Of course Dean knows. That kid takes a fart and Dean could tell you what ass cheek Sammy lifted…"

Bobby's eyes widened – that was too much information. "Joshua. Focus here. You remember me telling you about that she-demon bitch me and the boys exorcised out of here a few months ago?" The black man nodded. "Well, she dragged her ass out of hell and tried to use Sam to get to Dean. She possessed the kid and used him to kill Steve. She damn near killed both me and Dean too."

"You guys okay?" Joshua took an appraising look at his friend who just rolled his eyes.

"We'll live. The more important thing right now is to make sure none of Wandell's friends can pin this on our boys – they got enough trouble in the wind from Gordon. They don't need this." Bobby stated.

The other hunter scratched the top of his head. "Okay then. Damage control…"

"Have you been to the house yet?" Bobby asked and Joshua nodded his head.

"Yeah… Oh man, Bobby, Sam did one hell of a number on the house…" he paused and added, "and on Steve. That poor son'bitch… His wife died a couple of years ago. He only has - had one daughter and she's in university… damn it." Suddenly he stood, his eyes wide. "Shit. The tape!"

Bobby rose with him, his eyes searching his friend's face. "What tape?"

"Wandell was a security nut. He had cameras rigged all over that place. Shit. Shit. Shit. If Sam's on any of those tapes…" His voice trailed off as he hurried towards the front door. "Joshua," Bobby's voice stopped him halfway to the truck.

"What?" he turned and looked at his friend.

"Are you going to be okay with this?" Bobby pressed. "Steve _was_ your friend…"

"And Sam and Dean are family. Demons lie, Bobby, and this time they used Sam to do it… I gotta go."

Without another word, Joshua White climbed into his SUV, started the engine and roared away from the house. Once again, Bobby Singer was left standing on the front porch watching until tail lights were merely a memory in the distance.

He had given the boys charms to protect them from being possessed. And now he had given them Joshua to protect them from being hunted. He just prayed to any one listening, that that would be enough…

If not, the steadfast hunter would just have to figure out how to walk on water. John Winchester did.

….

**Three days later:**

Dean Winchester opened up the motel room and peeked outside. He was sure someone had just knocked.

Not seeing anyone, he was just about to go back inside when a small brown package, sloppily wrapped caught his attention. It was resting on the bonnet of his beloved car.

"Sonnavabitch," he growled, stalking towards the vehicle and picking up the offending item. He saw SHIT FOR BRAINS scrawled on the top of the small box and looked around. He didn't see anyone.

"Dean?" Sam called out from inside the room. "Who was it?"

"No one," Dean called back, glancing around once again. He listened for another moment and then returned his attention to the odd package. He lifted it up and smelled it and then smirked. "But I think this is for you!"

A shower wet and towel wrapped Sam stood outside the bathroom door when Dean walked back in the room and closed the door.

"What is it?" the younger hunter demanded, wariness marking his features when he saw it was a package.

"Don't know," Dean confessed. "Someone left it on my car."

"Shit for brains?" Sam read the writing. He looked at his brother, "Nice, Dean."

"I didn't write it!" the older hunter defended himself as he held the package up and shook it gently.

"Whoa!" Sam held up his hands, "What are you doing? Are you nuts? That could be a bomb or something?"

"Pish, Sammy," Dean dismissed as he pulled out a small switchblade and began cutting through the packaging, "Why the hell would any one be sending us something like that?" He stopped and looked at his brother thoughtfully for a moment. "Mind you, if they heard you singing in the shower earlier, that might be reason enough." He chuckled at his own humor – Sam was not quite as amused – and finished unwrapping it.

A note fell onto the floor as Dean looked at the single item inside the box. It was a tape.

Sam reached down and picked up the paper, shrugging when he saw his brother look at him questioningly. He opened it and an odd look crossed his face.

"What's it say?" Dean pressed, not as interested in the VCR tape right now.

"_Dean and Sam, consider this a gift from your friendly neighborhood Spiderman."_ Sam looked at Dean, confused.

"Is that all?" Dean asked.

The taller man looked back down at the note and then continued. "_Rest assured this is the original and there are no copies."_

"Anything else?" the older Winchester pressed but this time Sam just shook his head:

"No, that's all it says."

Dean frowned for a moment and then shrugged and crossed to the TV/VCR combo and slipped the tape in.

After a few moments of fuzziness the brothers paled and looked at each other.

"Oh shit," Dean voiced for them both.

There, in black and white, was a very clear image of 'Sam' breaking into Steve Wandell's house…

Sam sat down heavily on the bed. His jaw worked but nothing came out.

Dean watched him for a moment and then wordlessly ejected the tape, dropped it on the floor and stomped on it.

The younger man jumped at the sound and then looked at his brother questioningly.

"Well that solves that," Dean announced smugly.

"But Dean - "

The older hunter already knew the protest and rushed to reassure, "It's okay, Sammy, Spiderman said that was the only one – now it ain't." He smiled his most cocky smile.

"Dean," Sam was the voice of reason. "We don't even know who 'Spiderman' is – how do we know he's telling the truth? I mean, why would he do this?"

"Why?" Dean scoffed. "Because regardless of recent propaganda… we are the good guys. And sometimes good things happen to the good guys."

Sam didn't look as convinced so Dean sighed heavily and 'fessed up. "Besides which, the tape came from Joshua."

"Joshua?" the younger man echoed.

"Yeah, smell the packaging. Do you know anyone else who still believes Brut™ is an aphrodisiac? Man, I think the guy must roll in it or something!"

Sam didn't have to actually get that close to smell the aftershave. A smile lightened his features and unleashed his dimples – Dean tried to remember the last time he had seen a genuine 'Sammy' smile. "Joshua."

"Yup," Dean gloated. "The big man got our backs." He frowned as a thought occurred to him. "Do you think he'll be offended if we ask him to stay down wind from us?"

This time the smile was followed up by a hearty, relieved laugh. And suddenly things were just a little better.

They still had too much to swallow but it helped to know that they had people out there that cared enough to try and help them take smaller bites… and in the end, when the big showdown came, that might make all the difference in the world…

And if not, then Dean was relying on the strength of Joshua's aftershave to keep the beasts at bay.

The End


End file.
